A 17-year-old high school student has been arrested after they allegedly made a violent threat on SnapChat, posting a photo of what appeared to be a gun with the caption "Don't go to school tomorrow."
A SnapChat Inc. employee was monitoring data on the social media platform when they saw the threat and alerted the Federal Bureau of Investigation, according to Rohnert Park Department of Public Safety, which led to the arrest of a Rancho Cotate High School student on Sunday.
"Had this posting not been intercepted, it would have caused undue fear to all of the campuses in our community," officials said in a statement.
Law enforcement officials searched the student's home and couldn't locate the weapon. The juvenile suspect then told officers that the weapon, an "airsoft" gun made to look like a real weapon, belonged to a friend who was a 16-year-old student at the same school, accoring to police.
Detectives confiscated the item as evidence and arrested the student for criminal threats. The juvenile was booked into Sonoma County Juvenile Hall, officials said.
